The Kresge Foundation

In a new op-ed in The Detroit News, Kresge's Social Investment Practice Managing Director Aaron Seybert responds to a recent commentary opining that the response to the Michigan housing crisis is the creation of more homes. Aaron argues that that is only half the necessary remedy – that the other half is that too many Michiganders simply can’t afford housing.   Aaron’s response is as timely as it is compelling. He argues that we need to address head-on inadequate wage structures, together with heightened housing production cost drivers such as construction costs, financing costs, and commuting costs (when housing is built too far from job centers, and job centers are created without requirements that proximate housing be created to support them). It is at once a penetrating analysis and a warning bell for those who believe that we can simply build our way out of housing challenges. #housing   https://lnkd.in/eQk9kBkU

Imagine getting a raise at work — and ending up worse because of it. What if the safety net stopped penalizing financial progress? The Martha O'Bryan Center is proving it can. The phenomenon known as the benefits cliff is a flaw in America's safety net that punishes the exact progress it's meant to support. When income rises even modestly, families can lose SNAP, Medicaid or childcare subsidies worth far more than the raise. “We envision a public benefits system that stimulates career advancement and economic mobility, ultimately strengthening communities and the American economy.” — Kent Miller, Martha O'Bryan Center CEO Swipe to learn how a benefits cliff traps families — and how one Nashville organization built a national blueprint to fix it. #HoldAndBuild #benefitscliff

“The goal is a seamless point of entry that assesses an organization’s needs holistically and coordinates support across the network.” - Shamyle Maya Dobbs, co-CEO, Michigan Community Resources Five nonprofit support organizations are working together to create a more coordinated path to assistance for Southeast Michigan nonprofits navigating legal, financial, operational and advocacy challenges. The Transforming Solidarity Collective includes: Michigan Community Resources, Community Development Advocates of Detroit, Co.act Detroit, Michigan Nonprofit Association and NEW (Nonprofit Enterprise at Work). The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation is proud to join the Fred and Barbara Erb Family Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, the McGregor Fund, and The Skillman Foundation in supporting this collaborative effort to strengthen the region’s nonprofit sector. Read more in Crain's Detroit Business: https://lnkd.in/dViiimKS

"Once people experience that power, they want more. They know they deserve it and they know they can do it." — Erik Takeshita, Director, Culture & Community Power Fund That's the philosophy behind every grant this fund makes: invest not just in what communities build, but in how they build it. In a year of rising hostility toward immigrants and refugees, The Culture & Community Power Fund invested just under $1 million in the communities under pressure — supporting them to organize, create and lead with culture at the center. The Fund supports a network of grassroots organizations & initiatives using culture to shape the future of their communities, including the Ashé Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans, the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia, the Boston Ujima Project in Boston, the CENTER FOR TRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES INC in Memphis, the Northend Christian CDC in Detroit and the The Village of Arts and Humanities in Memphis. #HoldandBuild

BCV Detroit community mixers are my favorite events of the summer, and this article pretty well sums up why. Chase and his dedicated crew of community educators are equipping a generation of neighbors with the knowledge and skill sets necessary to plan, fund, and execute on their vision. Great piece by The Kresge Foundation on this amazing group. I see you in the back row, DJ Josh Bails! https://lnkd.in/gQruYYXh

When the federal administration changed in 2025, Just Solutions didn't scramble. It was ready. Just Solutions is a climate justice organization that had spent the second half of 2024 running scenario planning exercises — mapping out what a hostile federal landscape could look like and what the field would need in response. When that moment arrived, the guidance and relationships were already in place. “Collective power is crucial in challenging circumstances, now more than ever. Climate touches everyone in different ways, yet mainstream solutions often do not do enough to center people. To build a powerful movement, we have to educate and engage people, especially those disenchanted or marginalized by politics, working with groups that are strong organizers and networked institutions, and most importantly, led by the community.” — Aiko Schaefer, Just Solutions’ Executive Director Read the full story in our 2025 Annual Report, #HoldandBuild: https://lnkd.in/eGReEcmj

In 2025, the Reinvestment Fund launched the HBCU Brilliance Initiative, a transformational inaugural cohort of 11 institutions — aligning flexible capital, tailored technical assistance and peer-to-peer learning to address the systemic undercapitalization Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have long faced. By engaging institutions as co-creators rather than beneficiaries, the Initiative is building a platform for systems change that strengthens HBCUs as anchor institutions, engines of economic mobility and drivers of generational wealth in the communities they serve. #HBCUs The initial cohort includes: Coahoma Community College, Fort Valley State University, Interdenominational Theological Center, Paine College, Shorter College, Stillman College, Tougaloo College, Virginia Union University, Voorhees University, Wilberforce University. In our #HoldandBuild annual report, Christina Alexis, head of the HBCU Brilliance Initiative, details how the organization held the line on progress, justice and equity amid multiple threats and challenges:

Kresge American Cities Managing Director Chantel R.ush Tebbe and I had the privilege of spending two days with an extraordinary cross-section of St. Louis civic, business, neighborhood, and philanthropic leaders. Invited by our grantee, Accelerator for America, and the St. Louis Community Foundation, we explored which lessons from Detroit’s journey over the past two decades— and from other American cities where we work — might be relevant to St. Louis. St. Louis faces many challenges that echo early- to mid-2010s Detroit, including population loss, high downtown vacancy rates, and widespread and decades-long disinvestment in the traditional Black neighborhoods of North St. Louis. Like Detroit, St. Louis possesses remarkable assets: world-class institutions, committed civic leaders, strong philanthropic organizations, and deeply engaged residents. The challenge is not a lack of assets; it is aligning those assets behind a shared agenda and sustaining the discipline required to implement it over the long term. A recurring theme throughout our conversations was the importance of collaboration. Detroit’s progress was never the result of any single project, institution, or sector. It depended on government, philanthropy, business, and community organizations finding ways, often imperfectly, to move in the same direction. St. Louis leaders repeatedly returned to this idea, acknowledging both the promise of greater alignment and the frustration of fragmented efforts, competing plans, and uneven implementation. The visit reinforced something we have learned repeatedly: revitalization is not about individual projects. The larger goal is creating a quality of life that gives residents confidence in their city and a sense that they have a stake in its future. St. Louis has work ahead, but it also has extraordinary potential. As an outsider, I was struck by the depth of talent, institutional strength, and civic commitment that were present for our conversations. If Detroit’s experience offers any lesson, it is that meaningful change is possible when communities commit to the long game, embrace shared responsibility, and align around a vision larger than any one organization or sector. I left St. Louis with a sense that a critical mass of leaders there understands exactly that and are eager to begin the work.

VOTING IS NOW OPEN: The biggest economic wins in America's cities don't start with a ribbon cutting. They start years earlier — with land assembly, environmental remediation, patient capital, and building community trust.  We've proposed a session for SXSW 2027 that digs into exactly that: "The New Infrastructure of Economic Development." This session will explore the often-invisible groundwork that determines whether cities can compete for advanced manufacturing, technology and entrepreneurship — and how that groundwork can be laid equitably. The conversation will bring together three leaders working across philanthropy, community development and land justice: 🔹 Mikeya Griffin, President & CEO, Rondo Community Land Trust 🔹 Lillian Kuri, President & CEO, The Cleveland Foundation 🔹 Rip Rapson, President & CEO, The Kresge Foundation Together, they'll draw on success stories from legacy cities to show why site readiness, neighborhood investment and community trust have become real competitive advantages — and how philanthropy, government, business and communities can align to unlock lasting opportunity. Community voting is open now through August 23. If this is a conversation you want to see in Austin, we'd be grateful for your vote: https://lnkd.in/eVVxZRwM #SXSW #SXSW2027 #PanelPicker #EconomicDevelopment #Cities

Kresge Education Program Managing Director William Moses has been honored with UNCF’s Impact Partner Award for extraordinary leadership and enduring commitment to advancing Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). A steadfast advocate for HBCUs, Moses has worked alongside institutional leaders, philanthropic organizations, policymakers and community partners to elevate the national profile of HBCUs. The award coincided with the 20th anniversary of the UNCF Institute for Capacity Building, which works to strengthen the operational and financial health of member institutions. Kresge was one of the Institute’s first major philanthropic partners, backing a then-emerging idea: that lasting change in higher education requires investing not only in students, but in the institutions that educate them. Congratulations Bill! #HBCU #BlackExcellence #HBCUs https://lnkd.in/eRVueVwt